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CU-Boulder students raise concerns about proposed campus smoking ban

University administration: There's no timeline for implementation

By Whitney Bryen For the Camera

Posted:
11/30/2012 05:52:49 PM MST

Updated:
11/30/2012 05:54:40 PM MST

Max Verhaeghe, a University of Colorado sophomore, lights a cigarette outside the University Memorial Center on Friday. CU student leaders on Thursday night voiced initials support for a campus-wide smoking ban, currently under consideration by the Boulder campus administration. (MARK LEFFINGWELL)

The day after the University of Colorado's student leaders offered initial support for a campus-wide smoking ban, some students expressed concerns about the administration's plans -- and the lack of advance notice given to Thursday night's vote.

CU sophomore Louis Antweiler on Friday said he doesn't think the university should be able to take away his right to smoke on the Boulder campus.

"Even if they do ban smoking, I'll probably just end up smoking on campus anyway and getting in trouble or going off campus between classes and being late to class," Antweiler said.

CU junior Meagan McKnight said that while she has never smoked, she's also against a campus ban.

"If it's legal they should have the right to do it on campus," McKnight said.

The CU Student Government's Legislative Council voted Thursday night to support making the Boulder campus completely tobacco-free; a second vote on the matter is scheduled for next week. University administrators say they're considering implementing a ban via a "soft transition" over a two- to three-year period.

Chris Schaefbauer, the CU Student Government's health and safety director and author of the resolution approved Thursday night, said protecting the health of nonsmokers on campus was the biggest reason for backing the administration's push for a smoking ban.

"People that don't smoke, they have a right to not have illnesses inflicted upon them by secondhand smoke, whereas smoking is not a right, it's a choice," Schaefbauer said. "We're protecting the health of nonsmokers and also helping smokers recognize the health concerns the come with cigarettes."

Boulder campus spokesman Bronson Hilliard said the administration continues to discuss options for a possible smoking ban, but has not yet enacted one.

"I wouldn't want to tie the administration down to a proposed timeline at this point," Hilliard said. "What we do know is that a policy change like this takes time to phase in on a campus this size."

Schaefbauer said the student government's resolution supports a phase-in over several years for a policy that could start going into effect this July, with educational enforcement next year.

If enacted, CU-Boulder would be the second of CU's four campuses to implement a tobacco ban, behind the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.

Some students complained Friday that neither CU administrators nor student leaders gave advance notice that the smoking ban would be discussed by the Legislative Council on Thursday night.

Schaefbauer said student leaders didn't release a draft of the resolution prior to Thursday night's meeting because CU administrators asked them to hold off so they could prepare a response to questions about and criticisms of proposed tobacco ban.

"We had it ready to go into the CU Boulder Today newsletter on Tuesday before the meeting, but (the) administration asked us to hold it until they were able to come up with a response," Schaefbauer said.

Deb Coffin, CU's vice chancellor of student affairs, said she asked the students to hold off on sending their resolution out to the student body in order to make sure student leaders and the administration were on the same page.

"We didn't want to shut students out," Coffin said. "We were just trying to be organized."

Schaefbauer said the administration did not conduct any surveys or polls asking students whether they support a smoking ban. He said the resolution was authored after data from a CU Community Health survey in 2011 showed that only 6.5 percent of students said they smoke regularly.

"Based on the data... you can assume a heavy majority of students don't want to deal with second hand smoke," Schaefbauer said.

Students will have another chance to weigh in on the proposed smoking ban when the CU Student Government's Legislative Council meets next Thursday night.

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